The contextual factors contributing to occupantsʹ adaptive comfort behaviors in offices – A review and proposed modeling framework Review Article

Occupants play an unprecedented role on energy use of office buildings and they are often perceived as one of the main causes of underperforming buildings. It is therefore necessary to capture the factors influencing these energy intensive occupant behaviors and to incorporate them in building design. This review-based article puts forward a framework to represent occupant behavior in buildings by arguing: occupants are not illogical and irrational but rather that they attempt to restore their comfort in the easiest way possible, but are influenced by many contextual factors. This framework synthesizes statistical and anecdotal findings of the occupant behavior literature. Furthermore, it lends itself to occupant behavior researchers to form a systematic way to report the influential contextual factors such as ease of control, freedom to reposition, and social constraints.